Apparatus for separating floating and other impurities in suspension from liquids



Sept. l, 1925.

C. G. PETREE APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING FLOATING AND OTHER IMPURITIES IN SUSPENSION FROM LIQUIDS Patented Sept.V 1, 1925.

` UNITED STATES PATENTv omer.

CUTHBERT enoneninmnnn, or NEW YORK, N. Yf

APPARATUS Fon SEPARATING FLOATING AND o'rniinA IMPURITIES IN sUsrnNsroN FROMy LIQUIns.

Application filed March 2,5, 1924. Serial No. 701,670.

To all whom t may concern.' p Be it known that I, Curl-renier GEORGE PETRER, subject ofthe King of Great Brit-v ain andl Ireland, residing at New York city, county and State of VNew York, have invented new and useful Improvements in and Relat'sing to Apparatus for Separating Floating and Other Impurities in Suspension from. Liquids, of which the following is a Specication. f f' This invention relates to apparatus" for Separating floating and other impuritiesin suspension from liquids andmore particularly to that class of apparatus comprising an inverted cone-shaped Settling vessel pro'- vided with a central cylindrical feed throat extending a short distance beneath'the sur# face of the1liquid undergoing treatment; a volute Wall or-baiiie plate also extending a shortdistance .beneath the Surface or said liquid and Jfrom theo'uteriwall or' said eed throat to theinnervwall of ythe settling vessel so as to form avolute path of increasing width; Scrapers adaptedntobe rotated Slowly in contact with,"or in close proximity to the innerfconical surface of the sett-lingY vessel to remove any of the',- precipitate that mayhave settled. there;r an overiiow at the periphery of said settli1'ig.vessel for vthe clarified liquid and an outlet at the apex of the cone at the `bottom of said` vessel for the removal of said precipitate.

.The "central feed throat of apparatus of this kind, as heretofore constructed, 'y has been provided with an opening at or near the Surface of the liquid in the settling vessely through which the fresh liquid to be treated passes to the volute path carrying with it the lighter impurities and scum that remained` on the surface whichwere removed by an inverted weir or intercepting plate placed obliquely across the volute path, beneath which the clear liquor could pass but along the inclined Vsur-face ofwhichhthe floating impuritieswere carried to a scum outlet. f y l In order to preclude the` possibility of floating impurities of a locculent character passing out with the clear liquor the opening in the feed throat at or near the surface orn the liquid is closed and the lower edge of the Said feed throat or a part of it near the point where the Vvolute path starts is removed so that the liquor fed intothe throat will passinto the said volute path through the opening so made which is sutli- Aciently above the lower edge of the volute walls to insure that the fresh hot liquor passing through it will, by reason of its lower density, rise into the irstlconvolution or" the volute path.

With this arrangement the floating impurities are trapped within the throat whence they are eventuallyv precipitated when thebubbles that buoy them up have been dispersed, or the said impurities may be otherwise removed by mechanical or other suitable well-lniown means.

. By the present improvements the peripl eral scum outlet is dispensed with and greater'space made avialable for a longer clear liquor overilow, which may be con# stituted by the inner lip of a channel formed the periphery of the settling vessel by bolting or otherwise securing a Species of gutter thereto.

'This gutter maybe formed in sections veach of which delivers clear liquor into a separate draw-orpipe or it may be formed in onepi'ece and extend eitherpartially 0r completely around they settling vessel.

v'In order that impurities deposited on the 'walls of the settling vessel near the surface of. the liquid undergoing treatment'may be removed a suiiiclent space is left between vthe outer end oi the'volute wall and the wall of the Settling vessel for the Scrapers to pass through for the purpose of removing suoli deposit to the bottom or" the vessel. For this purpose the upper portion of the volute wall is connected to the settling Vother impurities in suspension from liquids,

constructed according to the present invention, and

F ig. 2 is a vertical section thereof taken on the irregular 'line 2 2 of Fig. V1.

According to the construction shown in the drawings aA suitably supportedinverted cone-shaped settling vessel a and a cover b stiiened by girders c d. A VCross-beams .e mounted on girders c Support a bearing f for a vertical shaft g situated on the aXis of the conical settlingvessel a.

A second bearing of steadying ring 7i for the shaft g is provided at its lower end within the vessel a.

This shaft g has arms z' that carry scrapers ,7' at their extremities and is rotated slowly by worm gearing 7c driven by the shaft Z journalled in bearings m supported by the standards n on the cross beams e.

The scrapers are thus moved in contact with or proximity to the interior walls of the vessel aA so as to cause the sediment deposited upon them to descend regularly to an outlet o at the bottom of the vessel controlled by a suitable valve.

The fresh hot liquor to be treated enters the settling vessel by way of the cylindrical throat p that depends from the under side of the cover Z to which it is suitably secured. rlhis cylindrical throat extends a suitable distance beneath the surface g of the liquid in the vessel. rlhe throat p is provided with an opening y at its lower edge and is surrounded by a volute wall r one end of` which is connected to it at r1 and the other end, after making a suitable number of convolutions, is connected at or near its upper edge to the inner wall of the conical settling vessel at s.

The lower edge of the volute wall at its outer end is splayed inwardly so as to leave a space t between it andthe wall of the settling vessel through which the scrapers may operate for the purpose of removing any impurities that may be deposited upon it in the Zone occupied by the volute walls.

Gutters or channels u are providedat the periphery of the settling vessel into which the clear liquid after its passage through the volute path o flows over the lip or edge w which is situated at the level of the liquid undergoing treatment. Two of these outlets are shown in the drawings but an additional channel al indicated by broken lines may be provided, Each of these gutters or channels is provided with a sink u* into which the clear liquor is delivered and from whence it is led away by pipes ir.

In some cases the settling vessel may be provided. 'with a sing-le annular channel completely or partly surrounding it.

The fresh hot liquor fed into the throat passes into the volute path v through the opening g/ at the lower edge of said throat. The top ofA this opening is situated sufficiently above the lower edge of the volute walls to ensure that the hot liquor passing through it will by reason of its lower density rise into the first convolution of the volute path whereafter it Hows with gradually reduced velocity through the volute path whose width increases at it approaches the edge of the settling vessel and during its passage the suspended matter it containsis gradually precipitated.

Any Hoa-tino impurities which enter the settlingvessel with the fresh hot liquor areY trapped within the cylindrical throat 79 where they remain until the bubbles that buoy them up have been dispersed andv they are precipitated or until they are removed by hand or bv suitable known mechanical means.

claim:

l. Apparatus for separating floating and other impurities in suspension from liquids comprising a conical settling vessel, a feed throat extending a suitable distance beneath the surface of the liquid undergoing treatment in said settling vessel, one or more clear liquor outlets, a volute wall extending from the outer wall of said feed throat to the inner wall of the settling vessel to form a volute path between said feed throat and clear liquor outlet, an opening at the lower edge of the feed throat beneath the surface o f the liquor undergoing treatment through which the fresh hot liquor fed into said throat can pass intov the first convolution of the volute path surrounding it, scrapers, means for rotating said scrapers in close proximity to the inner walls of said settling vessel, and a space between the adjacent end of the volute wall and the inner wall ofthe settlinol vessel through which the said scrapers may pass substantially as set forth.

2. Apparatus for separating floating and other impurities in suspension from liquids comprising a conical settling vessel, a feed throat extending a suitable distance beneath the surface of the liquid undergoing treat ment in said settling vessel, one or more clear liquor outlets, a volute wall extendingfrom the outer wall of said feed throat to the inner wall of the settling vessel to form a volute path between said feed throat and clear liquor outlet, an opening at the lower edge of the feed throat beneath the surface of the liquor undergoing treatment through which the fresh hot liquor fed into said throat can pass into the first convolution of the volute path surrounding it, scrapers, means for rotating said scrapers in close proximity to the iniierwalls of said settling vessel and a space between the adjacent end of the volute wall and the said inner wall of the settling vessel through which the said scrapers may pass, said space being formed by splaying inwardly the lower edge of the volute wall at the end adjacent to the inner walls of the settling` vessel substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my naine to this specification at this twentyfirst day of March 1924.

CUTHBERT GEORGE PETREE. 

